Sealing device.



- 'PATENTED JUNE'B, 1905.

Y M No. 791.778.

. W. E. HEATH.

SEALING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED SEPTJZ, 1904.

witneoau I UNITED STATES- Patented J'une 6, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM E. HEATH, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO STAND- ARDBOTTLE-GAP CORPORATION, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A

CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

SEALING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent No. 791,778, dated June 6,1905. Application filed September 2, 1904. Serial No. 223,151.

To all whom it-mwy concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. HEATH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Baltimore city, Maryland, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Sealing Devices; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the in-,vention, such as will enable others' skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to certain improvements in sealing devices forbottles, jars, and the like, and more particularly relates to a novelcombination of holding and compressing means with a peculiarcompressible sealing medium.

Heretofore cork, composition washers,(composed largely of ground wood,)and rubber rings and tin-foil have been used in conjunction with metalsealing-caps for sealing the mouths of bottles and jars. Cork isexpensive and is not a sanitary sealing medium when used in connectionwith a metal cap on account of the soot and dirt which accumulate in thepores and cracks of the cork and also because of the'poro sity of thecork, which perunits the liquid contents of the vessel to per-f meate tothe metal cap, thereby causing corrosion. An eifort has been made toovercome this disadvantage by using paraflin-paper as a backing for thecork; but this additional element merely adds expense. To avoid theobjections to as well; as the almost prohibitive cost of'cork as awasher composition washers, above mentioned, have been used inconjunction with waxed paper, as the wood board from which such washersare'made is not impervious nor Waterproof. The composition washers areof a stiff board-like consistency, not capable of suflicient compressionto make a proper seal, and are composed largely of ground wood, which isimpure inasmuch as it contains all the salts and wood acids found in theoriginal tree. These composition washers are hence chemically impure andas a sealing medium are objectionable in other respects. Rubber ringsand tin-foil are too expensive for ordinary use and are only used inconnection with food products that are processed-that is, cooked orboiled after the package is sealed. I

The object of this, invention is to combine with a metal sealing orcompressing cap a cheap compressible sealing mediu m of achemically-pure and sanitary nature and which can be easily andeconomically treatedfor instance, waxed or paraffined-to render the sameimpervious to the liquid contents of a jar or other package withoutcausing any objectionable discoloration of the sealing medium.

The invention consists in the combination of a sealing or compressingcap or means to compress a sealing medium against the sealing edge orshoulder of a jar or other package to form and maintain the seal with acom-- pressible sealing medium comprisingone or more plies ofapproximately chemically-pure sheet raw pulp usually treated to renderthe same impervious.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective viewof the mouth portion of a jar, the sealing-medium disk and metalsealing-cap being shown separated and arranged above the mouth of thejar in posi tion to be applied thereto. Fig. 2 is asectional viewthrough the jar-mouth and sealing device locked thereto in sealingposition, an exterior protectingcap being also shown. Fig. 3 is asectional view through a bottle- .mouth and sealing-cap locked theretoand compressing a sealing-medium disk of sheet raw p p- Thesealing-medium disk 2shown in the various views of the accompanyingdrawings is of suflicient thickness and of such a texture or nature asto be compressible to the neces-' sary degree to form a tight sealwithout cracking or breaking, and thereby permitting the liquid of thepackage to leak through the sealing medium. The disk Qis also usuallywaxed, paraflined, or otherwise suitably treated to render the sameimpervious to the liquid of I the package and to prevent the diskbecoming exteriorly discolored objeetionably by the liquid of thepackage. Said disk can be produced of the desired thickness to insurethe proper compressibility by pasting together several plies or sheetsof the sheet raw pulp hereinafter described or by employing a single plywhich has been rolled or produced of the desired thickness. Said disk iscomposed of approximately chemically-pure material which is white incolor and which approximately retains the white color after the disk hasbeen treated to render the same impervibus, the object being to producea sanitary sealing medium which can be compressed by the sealing-cap inthe act of sealing and which will not absorb nor in any way taint norbecome tainted by the liquid of the package. Said disk hence comprisessheet raw pulp treated Where it is to be used to seal liquids to renderthe same impervious and from which the impuritiessuch as pitch, gums,salts, and wood acidshave been essentially removed, so that the sheetraw pulp consists of pure white cellulose fiber matted together in acompressible mass.

Wood is made up of'vegetable fibers or cellulose glued or bound togetherby a substance which is ordinarily termed pitch or gums. These gums andpitch substances are known chemically as lignin and form theincrustating or intercellular substance between the fibers. Purecellulose fiber is pure pulp after all the impurities in the wood havebeen extracted, including the gums and wood acids. This pulp is made bydissolving the intercellular substances, the gums, and acids in cansticsoda. The wood is first chipped or reduced to small pieces or chips andthen cooked for anumber of hours in a solution of caustic soda understeam-pressure. The resulting pulp is then washed with filtered hotwater, which removes the soda and gums in the solution. The pulp is thencarried through a series of purifying-machines and is thereafterbleached to remove all traces of coloringmatter, leaving the stock whiteand chemically pure. The pulp is finally rolled in sheets of the desiredthickness for convenience in handling and shipping preparatory todelivery to paper-mills, where it enters as an ingredient or rawmaterial in the process of manufacturing paper fabric.

For bottled products of a dry nature, such as powders, I can in mycombination use the Sheet raw pulp as it comes direct from the mill forthe sealing medium without additional treatment to render the pulpimpervious. For liquids and products containing liquids such as areliable to permeate a somewhat porous material I prefer to treat thesheet raw pulp with wax, parafiin, or other suitable material to renderthe pulp impervious without destroying its compressible quality andpreferably without subjecting the pulp to objectionable discoloration.The sheet raw pulp can be rendered impervious by a simpler and moreeconomical process than must be followed in creating a sealing mediumfrom commercial blotting-paper, and the pure sheet raw pulp furthermoreproduces a white and strictly sanitary seal at a cost far below that ofthe paper on account of the pulp being strictly a raw material, whilethe paper is a finished product made from raw material. Theraw-sheet-pulp sealing medium is also far cheaper, purer, and moresanitary than cork, rubber, or wood board and is free from the chemicalimpurities which are present in the latter.

Merely as examples of forms of metal sealing-caps which can be employedas elements of my combination I show in Figs. 1 and 2 a metalsealing-cap for jars and in Fig. 3 a metal sealing-cap for a bottle; butI do not wish to limit my combination to any particular construction ofmetal sealing and compressing cap, and I do not inthis application makeclaim to the forms and arrangements per se of metal sealing-caps shown.

In the jar-seal shown the metal cap 3 compresses the sealing-medium disk2 against the top edge t around the mouth of the jar 5 to maintain thetight seal. The sealing-cap 3 is in the form of a ring having ahorizontal top flange, leaving the central opening exposing the centralportion of the imperforate sealingmedium disk 2, so that the disk can becut or severed around the inner edge of the cap to open the jar. Thevertical annular flange of the cap 3 is turned or spun under the annularexterior locking-shoulder 6 of the jar, while the cap is held down underthe necessary pressure to compress the sealing-medium disk 2 against theedge of the jar.

7 is an exterior cap covering the top portion of the sealing-cap and theexposed part of the disk 2 and having a vertical flange litting aroundand frictionally engaging the vertical flange of the sealing-cap.

In Fig. 3 the sealing-medium disk 2 of the raw sheet-pulp is compressedagainst the top edge of the bottle 8 by the removable sealing andcompressing cap 9, which has its vertical flange turned under theexterior lockingshoulder of the bottle to lock the cap to the bottle,holding the sealing-medium disk compressed to the necessary extent tomaintain the seal. The cap can be constructed in any suitable manner forremoval, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

What I claim is 1. A sealing device comprising a compressible disk ofsheet raw pulp forming the sealing medium, in combination with lookingand compressing means to hold said disk compressed maintaining the seal,substantially as described.

2. A sealing device comprising a sealing ble impervious disk ofwhite'sheet raw pulp, in combination with a flanged metal sealingcap.

' In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of twoWitnesses.

WILLIAM E. HEATH.

Witnesses:

F. HEATH CoeeINs, D. ARDIN OARRIOK.

